"
To assume that the study of the art of speaking will necessarily produce
consciousness of its principles while in the act of speaking in public,
is as unwarranted as to say that a knowledge of the rules of grammar,
rhetoric, or logic lead to artificiality and self-consciousness in the
teacher, writer, and thinker. There is a "mechanical expertness
preceding all art," as Goethe says, and this applies to the orator no
less than to the musician, the artist, the actor, and the litterateur.
Let the minister stand up for even five minutes each day, with chest and
abdomen well expanded, and pronounce aloud the long vowel sounds of the
English language, in various shades of force and feeling, and shortly he
will observe his voice developing in flexibility, resonance, and power.
For it should be remembered that the voice grows through use. Let the
minister cultivate, too, the habit of breathing exclusively through his
nose while in repose, fully and deeply from the abdomen, and he will
find himself gaining in health and mental resourcefulness.
For the larger development of the spiritual and emotional powers of the
speaker, a wide and varied knowledge of men and life is necessary. The
feelings are trained through close contact with human suffering, and in
the work of solving vital social problems. The speaker will do well to
explore first his own heart and endeavor to read its secret meanings,
preliminary to interpreting the hearts of other men. Personal suffering
will do more to open the well-springs of the heart than the reading of
many books.
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